Blast from the Past: Superhero TV Shows!

OK, folks, the blog has gotten wayyyy too serious of late. So much politics, so much news. . . We need some fun stuff! My go-to fun time diversion has always been super heroes, in print, on film or on TV. And I was a lucky kid, growing up in the 1970s and 80s. Super heroes hit a couple of times in that time frame. Some were hits, some were not, but you can better believe, I watched them all.






#1 - Automan - Desi Arnaz, Jr. starred in this short-lived ABC series, about a computer whiz who invents a virtual reality super hero. He can only appear at night (when energy use is lower), and he comes with a cool "AutoCar" and a sidekick called Cursor. Now, remember, this was 1983, and hardly anyone knew what a "cursor" or "virtual reality" even were. And the special effects were pretty impressive considering a TV budget and no CGI.

#2 - Spider-Man - CBS had hit shows with The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman, so they tried another super-hero show, and it was. . .well, not a hit. It was aired only sporadically, and Spidey didn't look much different than he did on The Electric Company. Still, the cast was good, and it was nice that they tried.

#3 - Isis - CBS's Saturday mornings had a hit with a live action Shazam! (Captain Marvel) show, so they spun off a female super hero show called Isis. She was invented for TV, but became part of the DC Universe alongside Capt. Marvel. It was very preachy, with a moral lesson each week. But I loved it.

#4 - Electra Woman & Dyna Girl - On ABC Saturday mornings, there was a strange live-action show called The Krofft Supershow with Captain Kool & the Kongs. It featured a "futuristic" band (name in the title), and several short regular segments like Dr. Shrinker, WonderBug and this one. EW&DG was a rip-off of the old Batman show, with women heroes. It was bad. . .oh so bad. And for some reason, I watched every episode anyway.